I thought they were going to dump him there. whew.

I like how the announcers say "Hold on, this is graphic AS they are showing it, not say 15 seconds ahead of time which might give you a chance to chaneg th channel or avert your gaze.

Yep. Glad to see him get into the finals after working his way back.

Jeez, that other American (Celski? Chelski?) almost gave away his place in the finals easing up then. Great semifinal for him other than that.

Um.. think you've quoted the wrong post there, EF :)

No, I thought he was talking about Celski's (sp?) nasty cut on his leg that required 60 stitches.

I was, and I'm glad to see the kid do well here!

I couldn't help but wonder if he thought the top 3 went on....he really did almost blow that.

I was bothered by this as well, until I read that this is pretty much the norm. The way it was explained in the opinion column I read was that people are just shocked that Canada is doing it, because we are generally just expected to be nice all the time.

If you read this NY Times article from September, the claim is made that we have allowed more access than any previous host:


What seems to be causing the kerfuffle is that we have terminated access that traditionally we have allowed, mostly due to pressure to succeed on home turf. So people are getting their noses out of joint because we used to let them train in our facilities, but now we are not. But that's a different thing than us gaining some kind of advantage that no other host has previously had.

Wow. Jean made the finals.

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Koreans screwed themselves, wow

Wow! What a race. Lots of bumping, Korea had all 3 medals but they knock each other out and the two Americans take 2nd and 3rd. If only Jean could have gotten one.

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Further to the "denying access" thing, this article is more clear in showing that Italy and yes, the USA, played similar games during the previous two winter olympics: News from the 2010 Winter Olympics - All Sports - CTV Olympics

I wouldnt want to have to explain that move when I go back to Korea. Lucky break for the Americans. I still think Ohno got shoved where they could have DQ'd someone.

Um, no she doesn't have an ACL tear, announcers, or she would not be on skiis

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At least they're not from North Korea, otherwise, we might never see them again. If internet stereotypes are to be believed, in South Korea they'll just be relegated to the work farms where they farm gold in World of Warcraft for 20 hours a day, right?

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No kidding. Good for the US medal count though :)

I don't know the rules since I only see this sport once every four years, but I get the feeling it's okay to nudge if you're the only slightly in front maybe? It looked like the dude to touched Ohno was even with him or just slightly ahead during the middle of his pass.

She easily takes the lead after that run. Great air, really tight legs, and fastest time. Has to be #1 after this (the 18yo Canadian)

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seriously. that was a hell of a fucking run!

Oh man, brutal. A go big or go home routine and she just caught that edge :(

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good run by this chick...yeah

Super fast but I still liked the Canadians run better (tho her air scores were lower than I thought they should have been).

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Man, oil and coal are hitting hard with the ads so far. I guess they're gearing up for the potential cap and trade fight.

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oooh - if she hadn't wiped, mcphee might have had a medal there

Two straight going so dang fast but just couldn't control it.

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That might be your new leader. So close

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by .26? that seems like a lot given that the air packages were worth the same and she was .01 slower...not sure her form was appreciably better (but then again i'm no judge)

Dang, sorry Canada. I think that was it.

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That should be enough for Gold I think , wow, fast run.

27.86? wow...if she doesn't get the gold for that run that's ridiculous...her form and air were just as good as Heil

I would have split between the 2nd and 3rd place runs. I'm not sure who was better. But pigtails there easily had the best run both times out.

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Nice win. Ahh... missed the Olympics.

Knocks out the Japanese skier, which, watching the way the Japanese Judge kept lowballing every non japanese skier seems a bit poetic, to give the US Gold and Bronze. Nice.

Secretly, I had hoped we got 2 and 3 but Heil had gotten 1. I just want the Canadians to break their jynx. I was kindof hoping Heil or Jean would take the gold in one of the two events tonight

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One more day the announcers will to go on about "oh no Canada's never won gold on their own soil" is the only downside to that sweet winning run at the end. It's getting as annoying as announcing mentioning Britain's lack of tennis Grand Slam wins when Andy Murray plays.

Most of my time watching sports is spent on soccer games that take two hours each, basketball games that take two and a half hours, and baseball/football games that take three hours, and all of these have long seasons of many games to determine a champion. It's quite a change to watch a sport where the whole thing is decided in three rounds that take under two minutes (or even half a minute like the moguls), not to mention the added intensity since competitors only get a chance to win the big prize every four years instead of every year. It makes watching this stuff intense even though I'm not familiar with the vast majority of the athletes or all of the rules/subtleties/scoring methods.

Wow. Amazing that he managed to finish that run.

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82-0? In hockey?

+1

The competition in the Olympics is so tight it makes it an incredible event. The fact that I know nothing about the athletes or in some cases the sports isnt a big thing to me as I just love the nature of the competition.

And for as much as NBC gets bashed about the coverage they do manage to make it interesting by giving us storylines to cheer for athough very USA biased.

Is the coverage the same throughout the world I was wondering? I cant imagine the Chinese getting too big of a thrill watching all of the USA coverage.

No, every country does their own coverage.

I'm actually watching streamed Canadian coverage.

82-0 in hockey.

Bulgaria gives up 139 shots on goal in 82-0 women's hockey loss - Olympics - ESPN

The goalie did make 57 saves, however :)

Except women's hockey, apparently. Scores like in today's Canada match would suggest that the competition level isn't high enough worldwide to warrant this being an Olympic sport.

Plus, it makes no sense to have a womens sport where the women's bodies are completely covered (since all women's sports are spectator sports). Women's hockey needs to take a page from the beach volleyball folks.

In before "maybe the WNBA should consider this to boost attendance/ratings."

one of the rare times when the phrase 'epic fail' is appropriate.

Is it just me, or do the medals looks kind of ugly? Looks like a collectable plate that you would order from Franklin Mint with a ribbon on it.

That will be a fun team flight back to Korea... inches away from taking all 3 of them out. That would have been truly epic.

I really love the Winter Olympics - despite the yearly network attempts to ruin things with their endless repetition of pre-canned "themes" this is one sporting event where there are just so many legitimate stories and so many unpredictable twists and turns it's just great to watch. Love the speed skating - short track stuff is always great, and watching Sven Kramer coolly and calmly eviscerate the competition in long-track 5000 yesterday (with a new Olympic record) was nice.

Women's hockey is incredible... when it is Canada vs USA. The rest of the world is still way behind, but the hope is that with exposure at the Olympics and other events they will eventually close that gap. A graph I saw yesterday showed the number of registered female hockey players per country. It went like this (my numbers are by memory but should be close):

Canada: 77000
USA: 59000
Sweden: 3000
Finland: 3000
China: 283
Russia: 257

Obviously its going to be hard for Russia to compete when they are clearly not encouraging women to play. There is no excuse for that in a country so passionate about hockey.

Anyways, I encourage you to watch if (when) Canada and the US meet up (likely the final). It will be every bit as interesting as most of the mens hockey matches. Those women can play!

The ski jump portion of the Nordic combined to start out today's coverage on NBC

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